Apparatus and method for spinning core-yarn



J 1958 HANS-RUDOLF GRUNDER ETAL 3,389,545

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SPINNING CORE-YARN Filed April 18, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet l Fig.1

INVENTOR. HANS-RUDOLF GPUNDE'R RANZ MERZ.

2 A TT:%NE VS June 25, 1968 HANS'RUDOLF GRUNDER ETAL 3,389,545

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SPINNING CORE-YARN Filed April 18, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. HANS R UDOLF GRUNDER FRANZ. ME RZ.

BY WW A TTCRNE VS June 25, 1968. HANS-RUDOLF GRUNDER ETAL 3,339,545

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SPINNING CORE-YARN Filed April 18, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig. 13

INVENTOR.

S R (JD 02. F HAN FHA NZ ggggoen J1me 1968 HANS-RUDOLF GRUNDER ETAL 3,

APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SPINNING CORE-YARN Filed April 18, 1966 4 Sheets-Shem 4 INVENTOR.

HANS PUDOLF GRUNDEP FRANZ MERZ '4 7'TO2NEVS United States Patent 3,389,545 APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SPINNING CORE-YARN Hans-Rudolf Grunder, Winterberg, and Franz Merz,

Frauenfeld, Switzerland, assignors to Maschiuenfabrik Rieter A.G., Winterthur, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Filed Apr. 18, 1966, Ser. No. 543,310 Claims priority, application Switzerland, May 7, 1965, 6,515/ 65 14 Claims. (Cl. 57-12) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method for spinning core yarn in which a roving is introduced and drawn by a previously imparted transverse movement into a main drafting zone of a drawing frame and in which a core is united with the roving by being subjected to the draft directly in front of the pair of delivery or feed rollers and subsequently is covered so that the transverse motion is transferred from the moving roving, which prior to entering the drawing frame was transversed, to the core directly in front of or in the main drafting zone.

This invention relates to an apparatus and method for spinning core-yarn.

Generally, a core-yarn is composed of a yarn core which is surrounded by fibers of finite length known as staple. The core may be a twisted or glued staple fiber yarn, an endless thread, or a bundle composed of such material. The fibers surrounding the yarn core which are supplied to a drafting arrangement immediately before twisting by the spindle are referred to as roving which may be conventionally twisted or not.

Heretofore, core-yarns have been produced by methods and devices which have effected lateral reciprocal movement of the core simultaneously with a lateral movement of the roving for laying around the core upon feeding of the core into a set of delivery rolls of a drafting machine. These devices have rigidly connected the elements supplying the core with a laterally reciprocating thread guide rail provided ahead of the drafting arrangement.

However, these methods and devices have caused an undesirable time-lag between the lateral movement of the roving upon entering the drafting arrangement and subsequently on reaching the location where the roving and j the core are joined. This has resulted in such a reduction of the lateral movement of the roving that the lateral movement of the core at the joining location has been greater than that of the roving at that location. In addition, the different speeds at which the roving and the core have moved through the drafting arrangement have caused a certain shifting of the phases of the lateral movements of the roving and of the core. This has resulted in a continuous change in the position of the core relative to the mass of fibers which has been relatively small at the location where the core and the roving are joined, i.e., immediately ahead of the delivery rolls, to such an extent that the core has been laid at the side of the drafted fibers instead of on the top thereof, thereby having made it impossible or at least very difiicult to satisfactorily and unformly lay the roving around the core.

It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for spinning core-yarn wherein the lateral movements of the yarn core and roving are substantially coincident.

It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for spinning core-yarn wherein 3,389,545 Patented June 25, 1968 the lateral movement of the core is controlled by the lateral movement of the roving.

Generally, the invention provides an apparatus which is adapted for use with existing drafting machines having a main drafting field, means upstream of the main drafting field for imparting a lateral reciprocating movement to a roving entering the drafting field and a guide means for guiding a core directly into the delivery rolls of the main drafting field. The apparatus comprises a feeler which is connected to the core guide means and which is responsive to the lateral movement of the roving so as to transmit a corresponding movement to the core simultaneously.

The method of the invention includes the steps of imparting a lateral reciprocal movement to a roving, feeding the roving into the main drafting field of a drafting machine, guiding a core directly to the delivery rolls of the drafting field, transversely moving the core in simultaneous relation in response to the lateral movements of the roving upstream of the delivery rolls, and drafting the roving and uniting the roving and core immediately upstream of the delivery rolls whereby the roving is laid around the core. This method transmits :a lateral motion to the core much later than in the heretofore used method so that the distance of the core from the optimal junction point is greatly reduced thereby effecting a substantially coincidental movement of the core with the roving upstream of the delivery rolls. This allows production of a core yarn of ideal quality.

These and other objects and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic elevation of a doubleapron drafting apparatus having a preliminary drafting field and means for laterally reciprocating a core;

FIG. 2 illustrates a plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 with the top rollers removed;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic elevation of a modified double-apron drafting apparatus according to the invention for laterally reciprocating a core;

FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective view of the guide and feeler means of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic elevation of another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates schematically in a plan view the path of the roving and core in the apparatus of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic elevation of a furthe embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates schematically in a plan view the paths of the roving and core in the modification illustrated in FIG. 7;

FIGURES 9 and 10 illustrate schematic elevations of two further embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a perspective view of a drafting machine provided with an apparatus according to the invention for laterally reciprocating a core;

FIG. 12 illustrates a perspective view of the machine of FIG. 11 in opened position; and

FIG. 13 illustrates a perspective view of an apparatus according to the invention used in combination with a chapeau drafting machine.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, the drafting apparatus includes a preliminary drafting field v and a main drafting field h. The preliminary drafting field v is formed between a pair of feed rollers 1 and a pair of rolls 2 around which a suitable pair of aprons are looped and the main drafting field is formed between the rolls 2 and a pair of delivery rolls 3.

A yarn guiding bar 4 having an eye 7 therein is mounted upstream of the feed rollers 1 in reciprocating manner transversely thereof. Also mounted upstream of the feed rollers 1 is a roving spool 5 having a roving 6 thereon.

A feeler 8 is positioned adjacent the rolls 2 in the preliminary drafting field v and is suitably secured to an arm 9 which is pivotally mounted on a stationary means 10 in parallel relation to the plane of the drafting field. The arm 9 also mounts a guide roller 11 there on which is directed in a direction away from the feeler 8 for guiding a core 12 from a spool (not shown) directly into the nip of the delivery rolls 3 in the main drafting field h. The guide roller 11 is adjustably positioned on the arm 9 in both horizontal and vertical directions as indicated by the phantom lines in FIG. 1.

In operation, the roving 6 is directed from the spool 5 into the eye 7 of the reciprocating guiding bar 4. The bar 4 causes the roving 6 to be moved laterally with respect to the drafting field a distance C before entry into the feed rollers 1; the extent of lateral movement of the roving 6 thereafter decreasing to a distance C" upon leaving the nip of the delivery rollers 3. After passing from the bar 4 into the feed rollers 1, the roving 6 is passed through the feeler 8. Because the feeler 8 is pivotally mounted, the transverse movement of the roving 6 is imparted to the feeler 8 thereby causing the core 12 which is guided over the roller 11 to also move transversely of the drafting field.

During passage through the feeler 8 the transverse movement of the roving 6 is reduced to cover a distance C' so that the feeler S transmits only this degree of movement to the guide roller 11 and core 12 thereby causing simultaneous reversal of the direction of movement of the feeler 8 and guide roller 11.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, a feeler 13 is arranged in the main drafting field it immediately ahead of a pair of delivery rollers 14 for scanning a drafted roving 15. The feeler 13 transmits the transverse motion of the roving 15 which is still present although to a greater reduced extent than in the apparatus according to FIG- URES 1 and 2, to a guide roller 16 for a core thread 17. This allows the transversely movable guide bar 18 to be located directly in front of the feed rollers 19 of the main drafting field around which the aprons are looped in the conventional manner. In this case, there is no lag between the positions of the roving and of the core. Further, the roller 16 is adjustably mounted on an arm 20 which is pivotally supported by the bar 13 thereby avoiding the need of modifying a stationary means on the drafting arrangement to serve as a support. As seen in FIG. 4, the roller 16 as well as the feeler 13 can be moved in a slot 21 and fixed in any desired position longitudinally of the arm 20.

Referring to FIGURES 5 and 6, the pivotal support arm 22 for the feeler can be mounted in a plane which is not parallel to the plane of the drafting field. In such a modification, a guide roller 23 for a core thread 25 is placed forward of the free end of the arm 22 to which the guide roller 23 is connected by means of a spring 24. This affords a partial compensation of the advance of the core thread caused by the forwardly placed roller 23 since the tension of the core 25 presses the spring-supported roller 23 slightly inwardly, as shown in FIG- URE 6.

Referring to FIGURES 7 and 8, a feeler 26 is supported by a spring 27 made fast on the frame of the drafting apparatus. A roller 28 for guiding a core shown by dash-dot lines is connected to the feeler 26 by a spring 24'. As evident from FIGURE 8, the core reaches the nip k of the delivery rollers 29 at maximal transverse movement of the roving at substantially the same location as does the roving.

Referring to FIGURE 9, the feeler 32 is secured to an arm 30 which is supported by a ball pivot 31 to the frame of the drafting apparatus for movement in all directions. The feeler 32 which has an inverted U-shaped cross section riding astride a roving 33 is connected through an element 34 which is rotatably connected thereto to the free end of the arm 30.

Referring to FIGURE 10 a core guide roller 36 and a feeler are placed one above the other. A stationary bar 39 is positioned parallel with and immediately ahead of the delivery rollers 37 of a drafting field and provided with a longitudinal groove 38 for guiding the support of the guide roller 36. A tubular element 40 which carries the feeler 35 as well as the support for the roller 36 surrounds the bar 39 and Slides longitudinally thereon.

Referring to FIGURES l1 and 12, a double-apron drafting machine having a swingable weighting arm 41 and removable top rolls 42 has a joke 43 mounted on the arm 41 carrying a pin 44 which pivotally supports a swinging arm 45 which can be lifted from the pin 44. A roller 45' for guiding a core 46 is mounted on top of the arm 45 and a roving feeler 47 is mounted below the roller 45' as above described. When access to the drafting field is desired, the weighting arm 41 with the top rolls 42 and a cradle 48 for the top rolls can be tilted upwardly because the forked feeler 47 which is open at the lower end can be lifted out of the roving 49 and swung upwardly with the arm 4-5, joke 43 and weighting arm 41. The core 46 does not drop from the roller 45' but is also lifted upwardly, as seen in FIGURE 12. When returning the weighting arm 41 to the operating position, the core is returned approximately to its previous operating position and the feeler 47 moves from above into the roving 49.

Referring finally to FIGURE 13, a conventional cap or chapeau drafting machine having a cap arm 51 is provided with a bracket which has a pin thereon. The combination of a feeler 52, guide roller 53 and pivotal arm 54 is mounted on the pin 55 to the bracket 50. The combination can be quickly and easily mounted and removed by moving the combination vertically with respect to the drafting field.

Having thus described the invention, it is not intended that it be so limited as changes can be readily made therein without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is intended that the foregoing description and appended drawings be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a drafting machine for drafting core yarn having at least one main drafting field and a pair of delivery rolls therein, means upstream of the delivery rolls for imparting lateral movement to a roving, and means for guiding a core to the delivery rolls; a laterally movable feeler means upstream of the delivery rolls for enveloping a roving to move laterally therewith relative to the drafting field, arm means for mounting said feeler means in fixed rotation to said core guiding means whereby the lateral movement of said feeler means is transmitted directly to said core guiding means to effect a simultaneous corresponding movement of the core and roving immediately upstream of the delivery rolls.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said feeler has an open end facilitating insertion into and removal from the roving.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said feeler is positioned immediately upstream of the main drafting field.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1 which further comprises a stationary bar positioned adjacent said delivery rollers in parallel relation thereto, said stationary bar mounting said feeler and said guiding means thereon in slidable relation.

5. The combination as set forth in claim 1 which further comprises a guide means secured to said feeler and core guiding means for guiding said feeler and said core guiding means in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the main drafting field.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 5 wherein said guide means includes an arm pivotally mounted over said drafting field.

7. The combination as set forth in claim 6 wherein said feeler is adjustably mounted longitudinally of said arm.

8. The combination as set forth in claim 6 wherein said arm is pivotal around a fulcrum placed at the inlet side of the drafting machine.

9. The combination as set forth in claim 6 which further comprises a stationary pivot means for pivotally supporting said arm.

10. The combination as set forth in claim 9 wherein said pivot means is rigidly connected to said arm.

11. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said drafting machine includes a vertically swingable weighting arm, a guide arm swingably connected to said weighting arm 'for swinging in a plane substantially parallel with the plane of said main drafting field, said guide means and said feeler being mounted on said guide arm, and said guide arm with said guide means and said feeler being swingable with said weighting arm out of an operating position and into a rest position and inversely.

12. The combination as set forth in claim 11 wherein a bracket means is rigidly connected to said weighting arm, said guide means being swingably connected to said bracket means.

13. The combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein said drafting machine includes a cap arm and a guide arm swingably connected to said cap arm for swinging in a plane substantially parallel with the plane of the :main drafting field, said guide means and said feeler being mounted in said guide arm.

14. A method of spinning core-yarn comprising the steps of laterally reciprocating a roving, introducing the reciprocating roving into a main drafting field, laterallyreciprocating a core in simultaneous corresponding relation to the roving, drafting the introduced roving in the drafting field, and joining the drafted roving and the reciprocating core immediately before passing from the drafting field.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,198,997 9/1916 Cunningham 19287 2,226,977 12/1940 Overbey 57-36 3,092,953 6/1963 Blackstock 5712 3,255,579 6/1966 Price 5712 3,300,956 1/1967 Phillips 57-36 FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

WERNER H. SCHROEDER, Assistant Examiner. 

